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❟❛❟ CHAPTER FOUR ❟❛❟
"Your motion sickness is that bad, huh?" Tokoyami's voice was tinged with a blend of concern and helplessness as he gazed at the girl beside him.
Yukie, huddled next to him, was the very picture of discomfort. Her face, usually expressionless, was now twisted in a grimace of nausea. From the moment they had embarked on the bus, she had transformed into a small, shivering ball of misery. Pressed against the cool glass of the window, she clutched her stomach, her arms wrapped around herself in a protective cocoon. A small, crumpled bag lay clutched in her trembling hands, in case she was going to vomit.
"I feel like I'm on the verge of passing out," she murmured her voice a faint whisper that seemed to struggle against the waves of sickness that threatened to overwhelm her. Her words stood in stark contrast to the lively chatter and laughter that filled the bus. "Please put me unconscious."
Tokoyami could only offer a dry, humorless chuckle. "I'll be scolded by Aizawa-sensei," he remarked, his voice flat, betraying none of the worry that flickered in his dark eyes.
The bus's abrupt halt on the desolate cliffside road, with the vast expanse of the forest stretching out like a green sea, marked the end of Yukie's misery. The air was thick with the scent of pine, yet Yukie could barely register the words of the cat-clad hero as they echoed vaguely in her ears. They were to be cast into the forest, to navigate through its depths —to their base camp. But it was far from a simple trek; the forest was full of earth beasts.
Yukie's hand moved almost instinctively, drawing a slender hairpin from the confines of her hair. Her adrenaline surged like a tidal wave, washing away the remnants of her motion sickness and filling her with boundless energy. She darted forward, her feet barely touching the ground as she moved from one beast to the next, her body a blur of motion.
Tokoyami exhaled heavily, his chest still heaving from the exertion. "I never imagined it could be this grueling," he confessed, the shadow around him seeming to echo his fatigue. The base camp was finally in sight.
Ojiro, who was equally spent, cast a sidelong glance at Yukie. "You're beaming, Akame. Didn't expect you to enjoy this so much."
A smile grin spread across Yukie's face. "I'm fired up". With a flourish, she twirled the hairpin between her fingers before deftly securing it back into her hair.
Ojiro couldn't help but remark, "And she still looks so tidy," as he watched her rejoin the other girls. Despite the trials they had faced, Yukie stood out with her hair and clothes still pristine, as if the forest had done nothing to her.
"Her durability is insane."
↼❟❛❟⇀
Akame found solace in the embrace of the hot springs, the steam rising around her like a gentle caress. She sat there, her back resting against the smooth surface of a rock, her hair coiled into a simple bun atop her head. The warmth of the water seeped into her muscles, melting away the fatigue that clung to her like a second skin.
